John:

Very sorry, but I have a rabid, fanboyish power question regarding Orion and Darkseid:

There's a friend, and there's I. We have two different opinions:

One maintains that you wrote Darkseid and Orion as sufficiently powerful to destroy entire galaxies and universes with their Omega and Astro forces, respectively.

The other disagrees, saying that your depiction in Generations III of the full release of their powers on Apokolips, which devastated the planet's entire surface, shows what you conceive of to be the full extent of their powers, i.e., they're nowhere near as powerful to pull off galaxy/universe level stuff.

I'll buy you a Zima if you can clear up this mess. Gracias.

_Frank Robert
Who has to admit . . . fanboy livin' can be fun sometimes . . .

I don't imagine either Darkseid or Orion to be powerful enough to destroy much beyond a planet -- and probably as smallish planet at that. What many seem to miss is that Kirby's gods were not about raw power. They were about good and evil, and the strength of personal convictions. Orion won because he was right, not because he was the most powerful.

Thanks for the prompt response, John.

It's interesting, but the question I asked not but a few days back -- on the "oblivion bomb" arc -- was prompted by my friend's adamant opinion that Orion's feat vis-a-vis the oblivion bomb puts him on the "universal level." He also opines that you believe that Darkseid is as powerful as Galactus . . . though I seem to remember an interview you gave in Wizard, just prior to the release of Darkseid/Galactus, in which you said that, essentially, Galactus would mop the house with Darkseid were he to fight Darkseid at anything greater than a very weakend state. His opinion so strong, I assumed that, perhaps, I missed something in the interim between that interview and our recent discussions.

Anway . . . non-fanboyish here: I once heard that much of Kirby's New Gods was influenced by JK's time in WWII as a soldier and by the post-WWII US/USSR competition. Ever heard of this . . . any truth to that view, you think?

One more q: Are you a fan of Vonnegut?

Take care, now.

_Frank Robert